Im new here but have always been into lasers and all kinds of fun things.

Mostly I've played around with making solar lasers, large fresnel lens and optics, no electronics though. I have a bunch of hand helds but they are a bit weak for what I need and are totally useless when trying to point at things over 100 yards.

Electronics has always been difficult for me, being in the middle of nowhere I have to basically source everything online, so I havent really done anything since EE lab in college.

I have been wanting to build a DVD diode laser lately, but I figure i could screw around buying a lot of stuff, waiting for it to be shipped here, and waste a lot of time and *with screw ups before I get anything that works well and lasts.

I thought since I am set up for custom machining, welding, and fabrication I would offer my services in exchange for *one or more diodes and drivers set up ready to run from one of you guys who have that part down to a science.

I could machine some custom cases with integrated finned heat sinks from aluminum or brass, stainless too though the thermal properties arent good for heatsinking, or just make whatever kind of components you might need.

I could work from cad files or crudely dimensioned paint drawings, dont mind talking and collaborating on yahoo with doodle to work out and refine designs.

I'd be interested in trading for a high power green / red / blue *diode and driver, not sure what brands of focusing setups work the best or if I would be better off just getting stuff from edmund optics and making my own. I'd like it to be powered by a larger cell battery *AA would be the smallest, something that will last a long time between charges would be best.

Ok so I can do lathe work, milling, drilling, *welding (arc, mig, tig), and a whole bunch of other stuff so I can machine up just about anything you guys might need.

Brass - Machines to a very nice finish, its heavy, but also is very thermally conductive.

Stainless - *Heavy duty, rust proof, hard to machine but will pretty much last forever. Have an extensive stock of tubing sizes which would be great for heavy duty *body housings, leaving the ends to be machined. I specialize in TIG welding stainless alloys so tubing can be combined with machined parts to form some really beautiful pieces.

The pieces can have whatever kind of finish you want, sandblasted for a rough texture good for painting or powder coating, a knurled finish for a good grip, machined ridges for grips you name it. A 400 grain sandpaper finish on the lathe will produce a very lustrous bright finish, and can go all the way to 2000 grit for a mirror like finish.

Aluminum could also be anodized, I can get the parts color anodized, or hard / deep anodized black or dark colors for a very strong finish.

Hopefully a few of you guys would be interested, look forward to hearing from you guys.

I'll try to find some random spare parts i have machined up over the weekend and post some pics. I am attaching a cad render of something I am thinking of for when I make my own case.

Ahahahaha &quot;Hey honey, what are you doing with my lightsaber....&quot;

Ok well I didnt have any spare parts that werent installed in something or really beat up so I just went and machined a case that I am going to use.

The part on the left is the diode housing / heat sink machined out to the size needed for a meredith lens housing, and a lava driver. Had the idea to make the front housing able to be sealed off and made watertight with a threaded front lens with gasket, and have this assembly be able to be removed and swapped with another setup, say for swapping red to green.

Middle part is of course the main tube, drilled through to house two AA bats, with some grip rings machined in

On the end is the end cap drilled out to house a push button switch, which I will probably custom make. Its not threaded yet, so it will screw inside tightly, I just need to figure out what size thread I want to use and get a tap.

Yep I can bore on the inside with a boring bar, though it depends on how small you want it. If needed it could be machined in two pieces and welded.

Heres a little housing I made up this afternoon, all drilled from the front with a cap for the front.

Battery will go down then the diode. Plan on using a magnetic switch activated by a neodymium magnet. It will have two rubber gaskets and the front lens will be cast in some kind of plastic so that its waterproof to a decent depth.

A question on the 2nd one -
Will it take an aixiz lense, or will you have to custom make one?
Does it contain a &quot;press fit&quot; socket for the laser diode?
does it contain a lot of space ofr a drive - would a lavadrive v2 work? (http://www.laserpointerforums.com/fo...num=1209418066)
Would it be completely waterproof? To what depth?